Problem solving is lauded as beneficial, but students do not all learn well by solving problems. Using the resources framework, Tuminaro J., and Redish E. F., (2007), Elements of a cognitive model of physics problem solving: Epistemic games,Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research,3(2), 020101 suggested that, for physics students, this puzzle may be partially understood by paying attention to underlying epistemological assumptions that constrain the approaches students take to solving problems while working on them. They developed an approach to characterizing epistemic games, which are context-sensitive knowledge elements concerning the nature of knowledge, knowing and learning. As there is evidence that context-activated knowledge influences problem solving by students in chemistry, we explored identifying epistemic games in students’ problem solving in chemistry. We interviewed 52 students spanning six courses from grade 8 through fourth-year university, each solving 4 problems. Using 16 contexts with substance characterization problems, we identified 5 epistemic games with ontological and structural stability that exist in two larger epistemological frames. All of these epistemic games are present at all educational levels, but some appear to grow in across educational levels as others recede. Some games also take lesser and greater precedence depending on the problem and the chemistry course in which students are enrolled and the context of the problem. We analyze these results through a frame of learning progressions, paying attention to students’ ideas and how these ideas are contextualized. Based on this analysis, we propose teaching acts that instructors may use to leverage the natural progressions of how students appear to grow in their capacity to solve problems.
Electrochemistry is omnipresent in our lives, but students often do not recognize that the electrochemistry they learn in general chemistry happens in the batteries on which we depend. Students also may not recognize that they have the power to make greener choices about batteries using their knowledge of chemistry. This 4 h general chemistry laboratory activity challenges students to take apart a common battery, figure out how it works, map it to what they have learned about electrochemical cells in a general chemistry course, and then design and test an improvement on the battery they took apart. Learning outcomes include electrochemical cell functionality, principles of green chemistry, and decision making based on benefits−costs−risks analysis in chemistry. Students in 16 lab sections were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups, which conducted this green context-based experiment and a traditional electrochemistry experiment, respectively. Students in the treatment group demonstrated positive outcomes on measures of the personal relevance of electrochemistry, understanding how an electrochemical cell works, and increased interest in the lab. Students in the treatment group also outperformed those in the control group on applying the Nernst equation and benefits−costs−risks reasoning on the environmental impact of batteries.
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